First Step Forward

First Step Forward is hard to talk about without going on a small tangent.

So after making hacks for 2 years straight with very little time off, we decided we really needed a break. After the release of Agnosthesia, we committed to not touching lunar magic for a while.

During that time, we just talked about different random things. Movies, games, music, and... cults. Light was raised in what could be considered a bit of a cult-like environment and after breaking from it, finds the concept still fascinating. So we decided to play around with that idea.

Not wanting to be tied to larger hack efforts, because we were both completely burnt out, we decided to work on many smaller projects. Because that makes perfect sense. We didn't want to be limited to just SMW, so we actually prototyped many different things to go along with the overall concept. A website, a series of small hacks, visual novels, videos, creative writing, music, even a proof of concept of a game made in Godot. And we wanted to do all of this where people didn't know it was us. Definitely not more work than focusing on a single hack.

Surprisingly, this was something that actually didn't come to fruition. One day, Light messaged Saela apologizing and saying it really was just too much for him to continue with. Saela actually very quickly agreed. We both felt like there was a weight of scope involved that we wouldn't be able to stand up to. Pieces of it still exist in our discord and on our computers though, as a fun relic to look at once in a while.

First Step Forward was meant to be the gateway to all of this. It was going to be a small beginner level hack to act as kind of a test. It's meant to be that easy, inviting feeling for people who are being welcomed into a group. For a long time, it actually sat at only 7 exits, with the first overworld encompassing the whole hack. Once the idea of the larger project was set aside, we felt more free and some of our creativity started coming back. Saela made another sub overworld and we filled it up with levels.

There's a stark difference between this hack and other hacks. There are very few references to things here, with only one actual reference to Twin Peaks. The first overworld map and those levels feel different from the second. Those levels have music choices that we may not typically use as well. All of this because we were working with the assumption that this hack shouldn't be tied to us.

The level Keep Your Helmet also has an interesting back story. In October of 2023, BD messaged us asking if we would be interested in making a level for SGDQ. We didn't think twice about it. It was an incredible honor to be asked, and was something we never thought would happen. However, we were struggling with getting the ASM working correctly. While trying to figure it out, we created a completely different three section level. Then, Light got frustrated because we liked the original idea so much that he eventually figured out a way to tweak it slightly and make it work. The backup, abandoned level was modified slightly, and placed here.

We were very happy with what we had put together and saw no reason to change any of it. We decided to send the hacks involved in this overall project for playtesting (First Step Forward, Signals, Chirality and Epiphany, with each recollection probably touching on this as well.) Surprisingly, they all went very smoothly and were all finished with testing and adjustments around the same time.

SMWC has a rule that only two hacks by a creator can be available in waiting at once. We decided to submit the two collabs, First Step Forward and Signals, first. That way when one was done, we could each upload Chirality and Epiphany. For both of these tandem submissions, we each uploaded one hack and tried to do it at the exact same second. We were one second off.

It was funny to hear people's response to four new hacks just dropping out of nowhere, especially since testing for all these was mostly done in secret whereas all our other hacks were tested by multiple people on stream.

Overall, we still really enjoy First Step Forward. The criteria of making an interesting, fun beginner level hack that doesn't feel pandering felt pretty difficult to us, but we think we hit that sweet spot for ourselves.